The Stones
by kmart
Summary: Not exactly a Zelda story but a story of a boy who has to find mythical stones to stop an evil force.


Book One  
  
CHAPTER I  
  
The Stranger Arrives  
  
Many eons ago, in a world far away from earth, was a land. Not any  
piece of land but a vast area of land. A land that had large snow capped mountains, long green valleys, small towns and villages, a  
palace with a city of no people, a large city that could be seen from  
miles away. It had fast rivers, small lakes, beautiful waterfalls an large oceans. This land was called Toragoth. In the land of Toragoth there was a village. The village's true name was Caronat but over the years it was called the, "Surrounded Town". This village was in the middle of a field. To the south of the village was a thick forest. It was called the black forest because you could look maybe two feet into the forest before it went all completely black. It circled around the plain and stopped at either side a cliff. This cliff was large. It could be seen from anywhere on the plain. The cliff had a very pointy edge. Behind the cliff the forest met up again. It was there on the edge of the cliff that a boy sat. The boy had brown hair and eyes the color of tree bark. He was twelve years old and was about four feet eleven inches. He wore a brown sleeveless tunic and a gray long sleeve shirt underneath the tunic. The brown tunic was buttoned with dark yellow and went up to his neck and the shirt was then unbuttoned. The boy had worn that tunic for as long as he could remember. The boy's name was Toner. Toner sat next to his sister Ara. Ara had black hair and blue eyes. She was ten years old and about four inches shorter the Toner. She wore on this day a white backgrounder blue flower dress. Ara hated dresses. She wanted to wear a tunic like Toner but her grandma wouldn't let her. Toner and Ara lived with their grandmother. Their parents had died in the war when Toner was only two and Ara was but three months of age. The town they lived in was very formal. It was directly in the middle of the field and was eleven housed on each row of houses facing each other. There were two rows in all. All of the hoses where white shingled, red trimmed and doored and had three windows on the other sides of the house. They had a chimney that went to the left side of the roof and went up exactly 3.7 aleos up (an aleo is one and a quarter feet for us). Every person owned 21.9 aleos of land. Except for one house. That one house was where Toner lived. Toner's grandma had lived in that house for ages. It was growing more like a ruin every day. It was off alone by itself of to the right. Toner watched the red fiery sun set over the Dark Woods. The shadows on the first row of trees were growing closer to the middle of the field.  
Toner looked dully at the woods. He wondered if he would ever see what lay behind it. The city fortune reader, a man named Tare, had once said that there were, "Cities, riches and wonder beyond imagination". Toner had seen only maps of anywhere.

Ara looked up at Toner. "Toner," she asked. "Why do we just sit around in this dull little town?" Toner looked at her questioningly. "I mean, this is the most exciting part of the day." Toner didn't admit it but he agreed with her. "If we were to go behind us, we would be the forest, left in the forest, right in the forest and dead forward..." She said.

"Is the forest." Toner finished. "I know but," He paused and looked at the woods. "What do you want to do?"

"I dunno. Some sort of an adventure."

"Not a bad idea," said a playful slightly mischievous voice from behind. "If I do say so myself."

Toner recognized the voice instantly. It was his best friend Miken. Miken was tall; about five inches taller than Toner. Miken also weighed a lot. He was about sixty- five pounds heavier than Toner, who was one- hundred ten pounds. Miken had orange- red hair. It was a mushroom cut and he had freckles. Miken wore a black tunic and a red shirt underneath. Although Miken was a year older than Toner, they had been best friends for as long as either one of them could remember. Toner remembered them climbing trees and him saying that yes, the biggest trees were for children (which at that age was them).

"Well..." Toner murmured as a smile crept up his right lip. "For scaring me," He blinked deeply. "I will...GET YOU!!!" He jumped on top of Miken. They rolled around. Miken flung Toner at a rock, laughing. Toner didn't have the advantage in strength; he was actually quite skinny. Toner did have the speed and agility advantage. Toner placed his hand on top of the rock at the perfect point he tried to flip back but slipped. He fell on his back. He stood up and... BOW!!! He fell backwards and he saw Miken fall too. They had both been elbowed sharply in the gut.

"The winner!" Said the voice of Ara. "By Calagrof's Beard, Ara!" Toner mumbled. Ara had a brood grin on her face. " You need to learn how to fight."

"You need to learn to tell people when you are going to join in a fight!" Mike said.

"What a concept." Toner said. The two snickered. Toner sighed. The sun was now a dark orange and the sky was now a purple navy. There were a few clouds here and there and a slight breeze now. Toner sighed. "I wish I could just... disappear sometimes." Toner breathed.

"Yeah..." Ara and Miken replied in unison.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRAAAAA!!! TOOOONNNEEERR!!!" Yelled Toner's Grandma from down at her house so low.

"Well," said Toner. "Gotta run." Ara winked at Miken and then at Toner. She always winked at people. It was an unusual wink, one that for some reason, he would never forget it. As Toner took one last glance at the forest, he could have sworn he saw a figure standing on top of one of the trees. Toner shook his head. Nobody could have gotten anywhere into the forest let alone right to the middle. As Toner went down the cliff though, he took one more glance.

Toner walked into his house as he kicked off his boots. He admitted that it was more like a shack. The dinner table was made of what looked and felt like tree bark. It may have been with the way the rest of the shack was. The walls were ripped out and leaking. The windows had lines of gunk across it so that Toner could scratch it off with his fingernail. The ground was made of light wood. There were holes in it that just led to grass. But the unusual thing about it was, actually practically the only clean thing about was the smell. It smelled good actually. A smell of fresh fruit, in a forest.  
Toner sat down at the table that was having Chinrock soup. Chinrock is skinny, twisted almost stretchy meat. The bowls and spoons were made of thin but sturdy wood from the forest handed down for  
centuries. Toner started eating with Ara before their Grandma came in. When she did, she smiled warmly at them. She had many wrinkles across her face. She had a pink dress on. She wore a white apron also. She was shorter than Toner but taller than Ara. "How was it out there?" She asked them.

"Good." Said Toner.

"Alright." Ara said.

Toner ate his Chinrock soup and went upstairs. In the hall there was a painting of Calagrof. It was a beautiful painting. It showed a man with a large white beard. It went down to his shoulders. On top of his beard was a bald spot. Next to the huge picture of Calagrof, were smaller pictures of the other nine gods. Tilusou, the God of Wind had a small face and was a woman. She had flowing blue hair that curved down her shoulder. There was Rigoren, the Stone God, he had black hair and had a large face. He also had a scar across his left eye. Then there was Walar; the God of Water was a skinny man with yellow hair that bent below his eyes. Next to him was Gerina the God of Fire. This god was the last woman. She had red hair and black lips. Her eyes were almost playful, mischievous. Also there was Frezelworth, the Earth God. He had gray hair. His eyes were a deep, deep blue. He was the oldest next to Calagrof. Next to him was Ewishi. He had green hair and was the Sun God. He was covered in scars. One over his left eye, lower lip on the left side, top of the right ear, bottom of the left ear, two next to each other on his right cheek and one on his for- head. He was the toughest and meanest god, but strongest next to Rigoren. Then there was Terinaquen, the Moon God. He had silver hair. His eyes were white. His skin was a dark color. He was a god that always had a poker face on. Also there was Rewsafoh, the Animal God. This God had jet- black hair and green eyes. He was strong yet weak at the same time. It was said that he was strong at heart, but not at muscle. Then, there was Zerebacex. He had Green hair and white eyes. He was tall and large. He was immensely powerful. He, was the Superior God. He watched over everyone and everything. Every God, person, plant, monster, animal, ocean, rock; everything. Above each God's painting was a stone. That stone was according to what god they were. The stone of Calagrof was every color and Zerebacex was clear. Toner didn't know what the stones meant; if anything.

Toner walked into his room and sat down at his bead. He thought. Hard. He thought of an adventure. He closed his eyes and imagined a perfect adventure, he was the hero. Then he was walking along somewhere. It had a red carpet on gray stone stairs. The carpet went half way across the stairs and it had yellow lining. There were stain glass windows on each side. He opened countless doors and went up the stairs. As he went up more and more stairs, he could fell that he was near were he wanted to be. He opened one more door. This was it. He opened the door and... Toner sat up in bead, sweating a river.

The sun was shining through the window in his room. "Oh no!" Toner was late. Gotta use the shortcut. He opened the window and jumped. He had mastered this by now. He prepared for the end. BAM! Oh man! That hurt his feet but he had to get there fast. He shook it off and sprinted toward a shovel. In his town, the children all had to dig. They all had to dig for... well no one knew; or at least no one told. Toner ran over and dug next Miken.

"You're late..." Miken mumbled with barely moving his own lips.

"I know. I had that same dream..."

"Oh great..."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Talking on the job?!" It was the voice of Quel, the Guardian of the village. Quel was a medium sized, skinny old man. He wore glasses and had many wrinkles all over his face. His skin was rough, like tree bark, though lighter. He wore a back robe with red lines across the sides. His feet had little black shoes on it. His deep black eyes always seemed to dart around, and when he focused on something he store it down as if he was trying to make it explode. He had a left bushy eyebrow, and a right skinny almost not visible. He rose his eyebrows by raising the skinny one, so it was slightly comical. He was now staring Toner and Miken down with the right eyebrow explode look. He slapped them both hard on the neck.  
  
"And Mr. Toner Sleep. Humph!" He slapped Toner again even harder on the neck. A little blood trickled down his neck. "Don't let it happen again!" Toner dug on in silence. He was facing the direction opposite of the cliff. He looked at the woods. A figure popped up from on top of the trees for a split second. Then it disappeared. No one else seemed to notice so he dug on.

Quel was now walking around with two guards. Toner dug and hit something with a bang. It appeared to be... a shield. "Uhh..." Toner said.

"Oh my!" Quel said. The guard's eyes widened.

It was a wooden shield. Toner recognized the symbol. It was a hawk with a letter "R" on it. The hawk was a dark brown color on the sheilds green. Where did he recognize it? The guards whispered to Quel. All of the kids were staring at him. The three still murmured to each other. Ara was smiling at him. She winked.

Miken had his mouth open and his eyes were wide. Other kids from the village were looking at him. Quel looked at Toner, "C-come w-w-with m-mm-m-me." He said shakily. Quel turned around quickly and walked toward the end of the line of houses. With two houses left, Quel and the others turned around it. Then a hole opened.

Toner and the others fell into a tunnel. It was brown and bumpy. Toner was whizzing down it. The colors swirling around him. "Whoa!" Toner yelled. Then he saw an opening at the bottom of the tunnel. For a second or two, is world was black. Then he fell into another tunnel. A few minutes through it, a guard scraped his shield against a bump on the left side. Another hole opened and they fell again into darkness and then another tunnel. This pattern repeated several times. Soon, they fell down another tunnel. This had royal symbols were on it. At last they came to an ending of the tunnel.

Toner tumbled out of the gap and onto a stony floor. Toner looked up. He was in some sort of slightly runic chamber. It had a stony wall and ceiling. It had many passages twisting in and out of the big facility. It had guards and scholars reading ancient scrolls, looking questioningly at swords or shields to see if they were royal from the past or not. Some scholars were discussing if the King's tomb was in here. Then, Toner saw the mayor.

The mayor had a rather large face. His eyes were blue and his hair was black. His hair curled at the bottom of his neck. He had a mustache that started very thick and ended thin. He had a tall muscular body. He wore a red shirt and a long black cape. What was strange about him was that he had small, small ears.

"Toner," He started in a deep, deep voice that made Toner gulp. "You have discovered," He said discovered with a big snake like noise in the S's. "A key," He said key in a booming voice. "To our," Toner liked his lips. He was expecting the next word t be booming. "Past." He said quietly. "Nice job. "

Toner sighed. "This will make a big difference in our scientists research. Thanks. I think we shall give you, an... award." The mayor smiled.

Toner was excited now. Maybe he would get a new tunic. Or just some gold, enough to buy a new tunic for himself. "This," He said booming voice. "Is for you to keep." He opened his box. Toner gasped. It was a telescope. It could see over one thousand five hundred aleos! It was long and thin. It was amazing.

"Also," The mayor said. "This." He handed toner a bag to carry it with over his back. Toner smiled in amazement. "T-thank you." Toner said.

"No, thank you. Now may you four leave me in peace," He said and added in a whisper "please."

"Yessir" The four replied. When Toner returned it was sunset. _Wow, I was down there for a while._ Toner ran toward the cliff. He then climbed up. When he got up he was panting. Ara sat there looking at him. "Where were you?"

Miken was there too. "Yeah, and what is that?"

"It's a telescope. You can see over a thousand aleos with it!"

"What?"

"You're joking!"

"Nope." Toner took it out of the bag. He looked out at the forest with it, half expecting to see the figure again. He saw only the tops of trees. Trees going on and on, they seemed to never end.

"Why are you staring at the trees when you could be spying on people?" Miken asked.  
  
"And where have you been all day?"

Toner told them the story. About the dreams, the figure the visit to the mayor, all of it.

"Well," Ara said when Toner finished. "Keep looking." Toner grinned, Ara winked and Miken was staring into some distant place. Miken snapped out of it for an instant.

"Whad I miss?" Everyone laughed. It felt good to laugh. Toner picked up a rock. He turned around and threw it. He smiled as crows and birds of all sorts flew around. This was one of their hobbies. The sun crept lower and Toner lied down. He closed his eyes and imagined an adventure. He heard Miken fall next to him on his left, then Ara on his right. Toner smiled to himself. Toner heard a cheep of a bird. It was close to him. Toner sat up and opened his eyes. There was a bird, but he wasn't sure. It was strange. It had green eyes and his feathers colors ranged from brown to turquoise. As soon as Toner looked at it, it flew away toward the forest at the other side of the town. Toner followed it with his telescope. It went to the tops of the trees and landed on the figure's arm!

"Calagrof no!"

"What?" Ara and Miken said in unison.

"I just saw a bird with hundreds of different colors," He said as he tried to relocate the figure after losing control of the telescope. "It flew away as soon as I looked at it. Then it went straight to the figure."

"Okay," Ara said. "Just were is the figure now?"

"I lost it in my shock."

"Oh, okay then..."

Toner looked again, searching hopefully for the figure. "Aaaarghh!" Toner yelled in despair. He threw the telescope into his bag. Angrily Toner stared into the sky. It was useless! Now Miken and Ara thought he was a crackpot.

Suddenly the sky turned black again. Some frightened screams came from down below. Toner closed his eyes... he saw a town. Children, men and women running away from monsters. The city was in flames. It was a nightmare. Some people jumped off the top of one hundred aleo pillars. If he could of Toner would have closed his eyes. Beast followed the people. Toner shuddered at their sight. They had light green skin and they had yellow eyes. They had long necks; as long as an adult man's body. They were clad in dark black armor with a moon signal with a star in the center in the top right of it. They had claws that were at least 4 aleos long.

They chased down the people in the town. One swiped at a strong muscular man. The man dodged it. He took out a sword and swiped it at the beast's neck. The beast fell and his blood dripped onto the man. The city was at the bottom of a huge mountain. It was at least 10,000 aleos high.

There was suddenly a huge black blob walking down it. It was now changing a different color. Green. Oh no! The blob was more of those monsters. At least 200,000 came down. The muscular man screamed and ran. Other men ran also. Too late. The beasts were now approaching so fast, they had no hope. Everyone got onto their horses and rode off. Then the beasts increased their speed. The first monsters to come down attacked first. They ran after the men, slashing the horses as they went. Then when all of the protectors were dead, they kept on running. They were going to the villagers. They were so incredibly fast as they ran. Dust came and cracks emerged from the ground. A group of ten of those monsters then came and slashed pillars down onto remaining inns and houses.

They had taken over the city so fast. So fast; it was hard to believe it had even happed. The sun came back out again. Miken had a horrified look on his face. Ara was looking like she was on the edge of tears. "What was that?" Miken asked after a long silence.

"That was," Ara started. "Amazing... in a horrible way." She ended in a hoarse whisper that clearly showed that she was very worried.  
  
Toner wasn't paying attention to Miken and Ara. He was thinking. It that was such a huge city that they over took in mere minutes, what could the do to an army? Ara walked over to him.

"Do you have any idea what those green things were?" She asked him.

"No. But I am confused."

"Welcome to my world." Miken said out of nowhere.

"What I mean is," Toner said. "if we really saw that. I mean, it did actually happen, then we could be in for some trouble. I mean, an entire city; wiped out. In the blink of an eye..."

"Ah forget it guys. It's probably just a spell or our imagination or something."

Miken said when Toner trailed off. "It-" Toner started. He gaped at what he saw.

Toner pointed downwards. Someone emerged from the Dark Woods! He had flashing colors on him and... what was it? A bird. The bird. Ara looked very excited. "What is it?" Miken asked.

Toner wanted to ask the same question. Ara was so excited. She was happy also; so happy she might explode. "It's..." She trailed off.

"Oh come on!" Miken complained.

"It's amazing."

Now Toner was starting to get annoyed. Who was it? Was she doing this to build up drama or to build up annoyance because she was succeeding in both? Miken looked equally annoyed. Suddenly, Ara shot up.

"What are we waiting for?" Ara asked.

"For you to tell us who it is." Miken mumbled.

Ara started racing down the hill. "Should we follow her?" Toner asked.

"Guess so. What do we got to lose?"

"Energy."

"Oh well."

They started to run down the hill. Toner was going so fast that he couldn't feel his legs. He nearly tripped over a rock. Ara was running to the man or woman or whatever very fast. There were now several people around him. As they ran past the houses, Toner saw a few people poke their heads out the door. Ara called to their Grandma,

"Grandma! Get out here!" Then she halted.

"Did I forget to tell you who he was?" She pointed at the now classified as a man. She gave Toner that unforgettable wink.

"Yes." Miken and Toner said in unison.

"Oh... well it is a Spunreln!"


End file.
